The present invention relates to a fully automated method and apparatus for manufacturing wiring harnesses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,167 is closely related to the present invention and is hereby incorporated by reference. That patent discloses an apparatus which terminates leads en masse at one spacing and inserts the terminated leads en masse at a smaller center-to-center spacing in a connector block. The apparatus utilizes a shuttle having telescoping tubes containing wires therein at a first fixed spacing which are delivered to an operating zone for termination. The shuttle then retreats on a linear path drawing the terminated leads into the telescoping tubes, a connector is manually placed on said path, and the shuttle moves forward to insert the terminated leads into a connector block.
The apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,167 represents a major advancement in the harness making art. The only prior art machines capable of loading wires en masse into a connector block utilize insulation displacing terminals in the block, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,043,017 and 4,136,440. U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,424 discloses apparatus which terminates leads one at a time and inserts the terminated leads one at a time into a connector housing, but does not have the capability of en masse loading.